Family and Education

bap. 29 Dec. 1622, 2nd s. of Thomas Herle of Prideaux, and bro. of Edward Herle. educ. Exeter, Oxf. 1639; M. Temple 1648. unm.

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Cornw. 1661-79, recusants 1675.

Biography

Herle, possibly a Presbyterian like his brother, does not seem to have taken any active part in the fighting during the Civil War, although his sympathies probably lay with the Parliamentarians. He was first returned to Parliament in 1659. In December of that year he was one of the Cornish gentry who met at Truro to issue a call for a free Parliament. Re-elected to the Convention for Grampound, he was not listed as a friend by Lord Wharton, nor was he an active Member. He made no recorded speeches, but probably served on four committees, of which the most important were for the Post Office and marital separation bills.

Returned for Tregony in 1661, presumably on the interest of Hugh Boscawen, Herle was appointed to the committee for the corporations bill and only 17 others. He may have followed Boscawen’s lead in politics, though he was sent the government whip by Secretary Coventry in 1675. His name did not appear on any other lists of court supporters, and in 1676 Sir Richard Wiseman included him among the 19 Cornish Members of whom he could ‘say very little’, adding that most of them were Presbyterians from whom nothing could be hoped. In 1677 Shaftesbury classed him as ‘worthy’. He acted as teller with John Fagg I for the motion to give (Sir) John Otway leave to go into the country on 10 March. In December 1678 he was absent from a call of the House, and he did not stand again. His will was proved on 14 June 1681.

Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 218-20; M. Coate, Civil War in Cornw. 29, 308; PCC 92 North.

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Paula Watson

Notes